London to raise £3m for literacy

Released 08/06/2011

A new fund launched by London mayor Boris Johnson seeks to raise money from businesses and individuals living in the capital to boost numeracy and literacy among its children

Photo: Chris Harvey/Shutterstock.com

London mayor Boris Johnson has launched a new literacy and numeracy campaign today, which seeks to raise £3m to increase literacy and numeracy rates among the capital's children under 12.

Coming in the wake of the Evening Standard's recent literacy campaign, Flying Start for London will focus on the city's seven poorest boroughs.

According to the Mayor's Fund for London, which is running the campaign, on average 20% of London's children are leaving primary school without the required standard in English and Maths. In some schools this increases to as much as 50-60%.

"Teachers and children's centres managers in our expanded area of operation have told us that the main challenges that families face are social issues such as overcrowding, financial instabilities, language and parent's drug and alcohol problems," reads the Mayor's Fund announcement.

Its research revealed that over 200 different interventions in parenting, literacy and numeracy are being used in schools and children's centres, many of them operating without a good evidence‐base or effective implementation.

Flying Start aims to act as an "independent brokerage", connecting nurseries, children's centres and primary schools to a menu of approved evidence‐based programmes on parenting, parental support and pre and primary school literacy and numeracy. It will provide funding for this menu of interventions and then work with the schools and centres to make sure they are implemented properly.

The four-year project aims to raise £3m from individuals and businesses in London to set up after-school reading clubs, counting workshops and parenting groups in Tower Hamlets, Hackney, Islington, Newham, Southwark, Lambeth, Lewisham and the City of London.

Johnson commented on the launch: "We cannot let poverty prevent young people from accessing the education and opportunities they rightly deserve.

"The Mayor's Fund has made a fantastic effort in supporting thousands of struggling youngsters who need an extra helping hand to steer them on the right path."

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